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Zordon
:For the movie version of this character, see Zordon (1995 movie). :For the 2016 version of this character, see Zordon (2016 comic) :For the 2017 version of this character, see Zordon (2017 movie). :"Calm down Alpha. It's Rita. She's escaped and she's attacking the planet." :--Zordon's first words when addressing a panicking Alpha 5 during an earthquake. Zordon of Eltar was a wise galactic wizard who fought for the side of good against the forces of evil. He was known particularly for the creation of the Power Rangers. He appeared in the original Mighty Morphin Power Rangers and remained a regular character until Power Rangers: Turbo, and died during the finale of Power Rangers in Space. Biography Early life Details of Zordon's origin, youth on Eltar, and his emergence as a champion of good are unknown canonically However, before being trapped in a time warp, he had a physical appearance. War with Rita Repulsa Sometime eight to ten thousand years ago, Rita Repulsa sought to conquer many worlds in the universe. Among the opposition was Zordon. War broke out between Zordon and the factions of Rita. This war stretched for 2,000 years and across countless planets. Many of Zordon's warriors perished in battle with Rita's minions, such as the Knasty Knight. Sometime during the conflict, Rita entered into service to the great Lord Zedd, who assigned her to conquer Earth. She and her henchmen occupied a palace on Earth's Moon, located directly above the location of the powerful Zeo Crystal. It was also during this period that Zordon discovered five Power Coins and a map to the Desert of Despair. It was also known that Rita came into the possession of a sixth Power Coin, the Dragon Dagger, and the Dragonzord, through unknown means. In the closing days of the war, Zordon challenged Rita to a final meeting in which the fate of the universe would be decided through a coin toss. Using the Power Coins, Zordon won the coin toss and sealed Rita and her minions into a space dumpster where they were to reside for eternity, but Rita would enact one final act of defiance by using her powers to banish Zordon into a time warp in which he existed outside normal time. His only communication with the outside world would be through an energy tube. Zordon knew that Rita may one day return and continue her war on Earth. In preparation, Zordon constructed a base of operations known as the Command Center in the California desert and used it to stage the creation of the Mighty Morphin Power Rangers. It is probable that around this time he befriended a young robot created by King Lexian named Alpha 5, and became a father figure of sorts to him after having to leave his home planet, Edenoi. Zordon also had a student named Gosei, and he sent him to another Command Center to be the guardian of the earth. Zordon also prepared for the eventual arrival of evil by placing key weapons across the solar system such as the Mega Voyager which he left on a moon of Jupiter during his time in the tube. MMPR Era In the year 1993, Rita's dumpster was discovered and opened by astronauts, and she immediately resumed her plans to conquer Earth. Zordon, now only appearing as a large blue head in a blue tower of light, asked Alpha to find five "teenagers with attitude", thus creating the first generation of Power Rangers. Jason Lee Scott, Trini Kwan, Kimberly Hart, Zack Taylor, and Billy Cranston were chosen. Each Power Ranger received a Power Coin - one of the five coins used in the coin toss that decided the fate of the universe eons ago, and thus Zordon created his team of the Mighty Morphin Power Rangers. When Tommy Oliver became the evil Green Ranger with the sixth Power Coin received from Rita, he sabotaged the Command Center and disrupted the link to Zordon. After much turmoil, Alpha reestablished the link and Zordon helped the Rangers stop Tommy's evil rampage. Once the evil spell on Tommy was broken, Zordon accepted the new Ranger with open arms, even giving him an enormous amount of his own energy to make him the Green Ranger again so he could retrieve the stolen Power Coins. When those powers ran dry, he made him into the White Ranger. When Lord Zedd banished Rita and began his own conquest for Earth, Zordon transformed the Rangers' Dinozords into the Thunderzords. In the episode The Wanna-Be Ranger, Zordon de-ionized - or powered down - due to the planets aligning. When he re-ionized, he became very worried over Alpha leaving the Command Center, and upon Alpha's return home he reproved him over leaving the Center without informing the Rangers that he would be leaving and asking permission to do so. As time went on, Zordon would see off four of his original Rangers. Jason, Trini, and Zack were asked to attend a peace conference in Switzerland, and were replaced by three friends the Rangers had made (and had previously saved), Rocky DeSantos, Aisha Campbell, and Adam Park. When Kimberly decided to move to Florida to focus on her gymnastics, she chose Katherine Hillard, a girl who had been used by Rita and Zedd for evil purposes, as her replacement. Though Zordon was sad to see his former Rangers leave, he gladly accepted each of the new Rangers and wished the previous ones well on their futures. Zordon acted as a mentor and adviser for all but a few moments between the original incarnation and the Turbo Rangers. It was somewhere during this point that it was revealed that because of the prolonged amount of time in the alternate dimension, bringing him back would be dangerous, if not lethal, as the Power Rangers would find out. Zeo Era When Master Vile transformed the Rangers back into kids, Zordon sent the Rangers (except for Billy, who gained his adulthood back), into different time portals to retrieve the sub crystals of the Zeo Crystal. He continued as a mentor for the Alien Rangers, who protected Earth while the Rangers were gone. After the Rangers came back, Zordon, with Billy's aid, reformed the Crystal and restored the Rangers back to adulthood. However, Rito Revolto and Goldar planted a bomb underneath the Command Center and destroyed it. The Rangers made it out safe, and found the secret Power Chamber, and Zordon alive and well. He utilized the power of the Zeo Crystal and gave the Rangers new powers, making them the Zeo Rangers. He also welcomed Tanya Sloan, who had been sent back by Aisha in her place. With Billy now as a technical aid, Zordon continued to mentor the Rangers, giving them new weapons, Zords, and any advice he could offer against the monsters of the Machine Empire that threatened Earth. Zordon was also reunited with one of his former Rangers, Jason, who took temporary control of the Gold Zeo Ranger powers from Trey of Triforia. In a dream Adam had, Zordon played the role of Zordonicus, a dubious sage wizard akin to The Wizard of Oz. Turbo Era One day, the good wizard Lerigot came to Earth to flee Divatox, who wanted his magical key, capable of passing through safely into another dimension and join forces with Maligore. He sought the help of Zordon, who summoned the Rangers. He knew that, to defeat Divatox and Maligore, the Zeo powers would not be enough, so he and Alpha began work on the Turbo powers (marking the first time a sentient being was the source of a Ranger's power, instead of an artifact created by one). He then sent Tommy, Tanya, Kat, Adam, and the newest Ranger, Justin Stewart (Rocky was injured in a martial arts training session and was forced to temporarily retire from Ranger duty, only to permanently retire) to the ocean, where a phantom ship was awaiting them to take them through the Nemesis Triangle (the border between two dimensions). As a last piece of advice, Alpha 5 told them that, once through to the other dimension, communication with the Power Chamber would be impossible. During Turbo: A Power Rangers Movie, Zordon was facially portrayed by Winston Richard instead of David Fielding. However, Bob Manahan still provided Zordon's voice. In Turbo Early on during Power Rangers: Turbo, Zordon and Alpha 5 discovered that a temporary wormhole had opened up that would take them back to his homeworld, Eltar. He had the wizard Lerigot use his magic to release Zordon from his time warp, so that he and Alpha could return to the planet of Eltar and be reunited with his family, saying farewell to his Power Rangers, leaving them in the capable hands of a lifelong friend, Dimitria. Not much was known about what happened to Zordon afterwards, except that he was involved in the war of Eltar where the grand monarch of evil, Dark Specter and his forces invaded the planet, and Zordon was captured by the forces of evil. In Space Era After invading Eltar, the evil monarch Dark Specter imprisoned Zordon in an energy tube, slowly draining his power. As this happened, lava began to rise from the bottom of the tube, which would destroy Zordon once the draining process was complete. Death When the Turbo Rangers journeyed to space to find Zordon, they joined Andros, the Red Space Ranger, and became Space Rangers themselves. Dark Specter put Divatox in charge of keeping Zordon from the Power Rangers. The Phantom Ranger was also tracking the wizard. In the end, Andros, on the orders of his former mentor, would be forced to kill Zordon (by smashing the column that contained him) in order to defeat evil once and for all by unleashing a power energy wave that washed across several galaxies. Zordon's energy wave destroyed many of the monsters and villains that were attacking the universe and purified Rita Repulsa, Lord Zedd, Divatox and Astronema. Legacy Zordon was featured in a chronicle of Power Ranger history compiled by Tommy Oliver shortly after he formed the Dino Rangers, which was found by the nascent Ranger team in the Dino Lab. After Zordon's demise, many other characters in later incarnations served in much of the same role as Zordon - in some cases, the role of Zordon is divided into two characters, one being the philosophical mentor and the other being the technical genius of the Power Rangers team (examples include Captain Mitchell and Angela Fairweather for the Lightspeed Rangers, Captain Logan and Circuit for the Time Force Rangers , Princess Shayla for the Wild Force Rangers, Sensei Kanoi Watanabe and his son Cam for the Ninja Rangers, Tommy Oliver and Hayley Ziktor for the Dino Rangers, Anubis Cruger and Kat Manx for the S.P.D. Rangers, Udonna and Clare for the Mystic Rangers, Sentinel Knight, Andrew Hartford, and Spencer for the Overdrive Rangers, Robert James and Fran for the Jungle Fury Rangers, Doctor K and Colonel Mason Truman for the RPM Rangers, Mentor Ji for the Samurai Rangers, Zordon's protege Gosei along with Tensou for the (Super) Megaforce Rangers, Keeper and Kendall Morgan for the Dino Charge Rangers, Mick Kanic and Redbot for the Ninja Steel Rangers, and Commander Shaw and Nate Silva for the Beast Morphers Rangers. Other lasting effects that Zordon has on the series, to this day, include, without limitation, the following: *The giant machines that Rangers use to fight large enemies are called "Zords", rather than having unique names in each season, like Super Sentai does. The term "Zord" would later be used in Sentai itself, first the one-off G-Zord in Mirai Sentai Timeranger, known as Dragontron in Time Force, before being commonplace in Tokumei Sentai Go-Busters, with past Sentai Giant Robos being labeled as Megazords in Tokumei Sentai Go-Busters vs. Kaizoku Sentai Gokaiger: The Movie. *The series is divided into the Zordon Era (Mighty Morphin through In Space), Post-''Zordon Era'' (Lost Galaxy through Wild Force), Disney Era (Ninja Storm through RPM), the Neo Saban Era (Samurai through Super Ninja Steel), and the Hasbro Era (Beast Morphers and every season thereafter) even though a more noticeable difference is probably the fact that they change the cast and setting every year. *When characters from the Zordon Era make appearances in Post Zordon Era episodes, they usually reference Zordon (e.g. Alpha 6 asking himself "What would Zordon do?" in "Once a Ranger"). *Gosei tells the Mega Rangers that Zordon was his mentor in Mega Mission. Keys of past Rangers including Zordon's lined his chamber. Notes *While the phrase "It's Morphin Time!" is often credited as being the signature phrase of Jason Lee Scott, it was actually Zordon, in the second episode, that first coined the phrase. *Zordon's actual power tends to vary from time to time. For example, in the first season of MMPR, Zordon nearly destroyed himself while trying to recharge the Green Power Coin for one more fight, and the rest of the Rangers had to use their coins to revive him. However, in Countdown to Destruction, releasing him from his energy tube wiped out all the evil in the galaxy (Although it should be noted that in the first instance he was only able to release his power in limited amounts from the other dimension that he was trapped in, while in the second instance he was releasing all his power at once with no thought for his own life). *Zordon is the only Mentor in the Power Rangers series to be permanently killed and never seen after his death, though he is mentioned once by a reconstructed Alpha 6 in Power Rangers Operation Overdrive's "Once A Ranger". *He is the only mentor character to appear in more than two different seasons. Behind the Scenes *In the original pilot episode, Zordon's name was Zoltar. His voice and appearance were provided by actor David Fielding. *Fielding provided the voice (with a slight British accent) and facial performance of Zordon in season 1. He left the show due to other obligations, and Bob Manahan stepped in to voice the character (sans accent). Despite the change of actor, Fielding's likeness was used throughout the duration of the series.http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=im1I9cWTdxA *Fielding mentioned that he was interested in doing a web series about what Zordon would do after Power Rangers. One idea was a comedy series of Zordon doing odd jobs trying to get by and a second was a serious idea of a possible return of Zordon.http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=im1I9cWTdxA *Though Zordon is generally thought of as an exclusive-to-''Power Rangers'' character, like Bulk and Skull, Zyuranger footage of Barza was used to depict his physical appearance prior to his entrapment in the time warp. *In an earlier version of Mighty Morphin Power Rangers: The Movie, Zordon was a member of the "Order of Meledon". He was regarded as the finest commander in the galaxy, a true legend. After the Order's enemies were defeated over time, he moved on to continue the struggle against evil elsewhere. It was also stated by Dulcea that if not for him, the universe would be a very different place. She also said that he was always an inspiration and if he died, a piece of all of them would die, and the forces of good within the universe would be dealt with an irreparable blow. See Also *Dimitria: Zordon's successor *Gosei: Zordon's student